What impact will new folder structure have?
-
I'm evaluating a request to restructure our existing folder structure for Ties.com and I would like some input. I typically recommend proper folder structure for ecommerce sites either when doing a new build or when doing an information architecture overhaul because of duplicate content or canonicalization issues. Ties.com doesn't have duplicate content or canonicalization issues so I'm really trying to get feedback about the SEO impact of a folder structure change versus the amount of time required on our side to do the work. Please share your experiences.
Current URL structure example:
http://www.ties.com/v/a/the-american-necktie-co-navy-and-gold-stripe-navy-blue-skinny-tie
Potential New Structure:
http://www.ties.com**/skinny-ties**/the-american-necktie-co-navy-and-gold-stripe-navy-blue-skinny-tie
OR
http://www.ties.com/skinny-ties/brand/product-title
I'm well aware that as a BEST PRACTICE we should be using the category/subcategory folder structure, but since we aren't really suffering from any technical SEO issues then I don't know if this will be worth our time to remap all of these URL's via 301 and canonicalize everything. I anticipate it will be a lot of work and if the Return on Effort is low I can't prioritize this project.
I need 2nd and 3rd opinions from experienced ecommerce retail SEO's.
Thank you
-
I agree with you!
-
Thanks for the response. Our internal linking structure is fine and I'm of the belief that we shouldn't mess with the URL's because there is more potential risk regarding the 301 than potential gain from a better folder structure.
Thanks for the response!
-
Most people believe that doing 301 redirects causes a small decrease in the value of incoming links.
Do you think that you will gain more from changing the URL than you will lose through the redirect?
If you have a new site that is poorly established then I would not worry too much about the redirect because you don't have much power.
However, if you have a strong established site there could be a lot to lose by doing the redirect.
So, the gain from the nice URL could be YourPower + X
... but the loss from the redirect could be YourPower / X
If I didn't know the value of X I wouldn't monkey with the URLs.
I think that the link structure is far more important than the folder structure.
-
Do you think this will actually improve rankings for our product pages?
-
http://www.ties.com**/brand/ties/navy-and-gold-skinny-tie**
or
http://www.ties.com/brand/skinny-ties/navy-and-gold
Browse Questions
Explore more categories
-
Moz Tools
Chat with the community about the Moz tools.
-
SEO Tactics
Discuss the SEO process with fellow marketers
-
Community
Discuss industry events, jobs, and news!
-
Digital Marketing
Chat about tactics outside of SEO
-
Research & Trends
Dive into research and trends in the search industry.
-
Support
Connect on product support and feature requests.
Related Questions
-
New blog on a separate server to the main website?
We have a potential client who operates a jobs board in a niche sector in the UK. They want to start a blog but don't want to set it up on the same server as the main jobs site. Discussion started around Wordpress, and their preference is for the WP.com hosted version in a directory or subdomain of the TLD. Our concerns are around the different locations of the two sites (impact of two diff server locations and IP addresses?) but also the limitation of WP.com to interlink the two sites enough that they provide a decent customer experience. Thoughts, musings, advice - all welcome! Tks
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | AB-Marketing0 -
Keyword in URL - SEO impact
Hi, We don't have most important keyword of our industry in our domain or sub-domain. How important it is to have keyword in website URL? Most of our competitors pages with "keyword" urls been listing in SERP. What is back-links role in this scenarion? And which URL have more advantage? keyword in sub-domain or page with keyword. Like for "seo" keyword..... seo.example.com or example.com/seo
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | vtmoz0 -
How to Submit My new Website in All Search Engines
Hello Everyone, Can Any body help to suggest Good software, or Any other to easily Submit my website , to All Search Engines ? ? Any expert Can help please, Thanx in Advance
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | falguniinnovative0 -
Has this new Dmoz link put my rankings at risk?
About 7 months ago, I applied for a link at Dmoz. This week, the link got approved. The only problem is that it seems there are hundreds of link directories that scrape Dmoz. Open Site Explorer is now showing about 130 new links to my site that are essentially Dmoz scrapper sites. Do you think Google will mistaken this as me buying directory links?
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | JenniferDacosta0 -
Website structure question - linking to categories?
Hi there, I have a video website (user uploaded clips) which are sorted into 75 categories. Now, these categories have their own pages and 90% of the traffic comes from the category keywords. All 75 categories are linked from the homepage (which is obvious, right?) AND from all video pages. Now, my question is: from SEO point of view, it is OK to link to categories from the video pages, too? I am in doubt here because: 1. I tend to think it is OK because I get a lot of traffic for the category keywords. 2. I tend to think that isn't OK because I get almost no traffic for the video pages. Any thoughts? Thanks.
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | jasmin280 -
URL for New Product
Hi, We run an established website (mindflash.com) selling online training software. We are getting ready to launch a new section of the site where our users can sell their own online training programs. This will be branded as the 'marketplace'. This section will have a main page, category pages, tag pages, search and individual course pages. In our URL structure, I'd love to target the word 'training courses' but I don't want to neglect the product brand either. Is it better to use /training-courses in the marketplace urls or to use /marketplace? Or is it better to use both like /marketplace-training-courses or /marketplace/training-courses? Option 1: Example main section page: mindflash.com/training-courses Example category page: mindflash.com/training-courses/software-training Option 2: Example main section page: mindflash.com/marketplace Example category page: mindflash.com/marketplace/software-training Option 3: Example main section page: mindflash.com/marketplace-training-courses Example category page: mindflash.com/marketplace-training-courses/software-training Option 4: Example main section page: mindflash.com/marketplace/training-courses Example category page: mindflash.com/marketplace/training-courses/software-training Which option is better and why?
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | mindflash0 -
Clone sites at new company
I just came in house to our company for SEO. We have one main site and 182 that are exact duplicates and almost exact clones of the main site. It's no surprise that half of these clones are deindexed already. The meta tags are just the domain name URL. I want to add unique text on the home page to each site, fix the meta tags and switch them up so they aren't clones. Other than a huge rewrite of the code for each site, I'm not sure what else to do to prevent the rest from getting deindexed. Is there any way to prevent the rest from getting deindexed?
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | CFSSEO0 -
Most effective Title Tag Structure
I want to target a set of keywords but I want to know which type of Title tag structure or wording is most effective? Here are my target keywords: CMMS, CMMS Software, EAM Software, Maintenance Management Software Do you think using exact keywords terms are most effective? For example: Title tag: CMMS, CMMS Software, EAM Software, Maintenance Management Software Or: Title tag: CMMS Software, EAM Maintenance Management Software Same goes for keyword use for content and H1 tags. Your thoughts? Thanks, John
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | VizionSEO990